


What Happened in the Square

by Chibifukurou



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:32:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibifukurou/pseuds/Chibifukurou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Kayaba's announcement, ten thousand people had their lives shattered. </p><p>This is what happened afterwards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Happened in the Square

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moon_Blitz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon_Blitz/gifts).



> A Huge thank you to my wonderful beta, who saved my bacon.
> 
> Moon-Blitz I hope you like this. I know it wasn't exactly what you requested.

Klein had been search the town square for his friends, when Kirito tapped him on the back and motioned for Klein to follow him out of the square.

Klein had only spent a few minutes in the Town of Beginnings before he'd gone out to hunt Boars with Kirito. He wasn't sure where they were heading, but he was willing to trust Kirito's sense of direction.

They made a turn away from the Market district of town, and past an inn. Klein noted its location, for later. Once they were away from any NPRs and hidden in out of the way alley, Kirito began to explain his plan. He wanted to head for the next town over. To get a jump on leveling up before the other players started fighting over every HP and item they could get to.

Klein was tempted to go along with him. He owed Kirito for showing him how to use Sword skills and explaining how the game worked, but he couldn't leave his friends. He had to say no.

Kirito didn't seem surprised, just sad. "Goodbye, Klein."

Klein hated to see Kirito go alone, but even if he'd never used a Nervegear before today, he was familiar enough with MMORGs to know why the kid had hesitated when Klein said he needed to get his other friends to safety.

At level one, the kid would be lucky to get to the next town over with Klein in tow.  Asking Kirito to bring along two more people might as well have been asking him to commit suicide. That didn't keep him from feeling guilty for letting Kirito go alone. Kirito had seemed so calm and collected when he'd been training Klein. Seeing how young Kirito actually was made Klein feel protective. Still, Klein couldn't abandon his friends, even if it meant that he might have just sentenced Kirito to death. Klein turned away from the alleyway and back to the town square. It took him a while to find the rest of his guild. Panic had seized the crowd.  Kirito was right.  It wasn't safe to stay here until the other players turned on one another.     
  
Klein found his friends and approached as quietly as he could, glad they were following his training, keeping their backs together. The Guild might not be able to take serious damage in the Town of Beginnings, but that wasn't a reason to get careless.   When Klein caught the eye of one of his Guild members, he nodded for them to follow him and headed back for the edge of the square.  Both of them followed, all working admirably to keep from attracting notice.

Once the three of them were safely out of the square, Klein led them towards an inn. He'd scoped out the location when he'd first arrived. Hopefully he'd been one of the few planning ahead. If so, there should still be rooms. He'd feel better once they were able to have privacy to figure out what they were all going to do.

# # #

Agil gripped his sword hilt hard, just to feel the pressure against his skin. Here, unlike the real world, he couldn't feel pain.  In light of Kayaba's little announcement even the pressure was disturbing.   It was a reminder that whatever happened to him in this world would be mirrored in the real world.

Around Agil, many of the other players were panicking. Some screamed at the sky. Others crumpled into themselves and began to sob. It was insanity. He wondered if this chaos had been Kayaba's intention when he had made his announcement.  Kayaba didn't appear to understand humanity, so perhaps it had been an unexpected consequence.

There was no point in thinking about Kayaba now.  Whatever the scientist's intention was, these people needed help. Agil could see a young woman shepherding a group of kids away from the Chaos. There were so many children and they all appeared to be in shock. Some sobbed, while others had frozen.  The young woman wouldn't be able to get all the children out without help.  He joined her, picked up two of the kids, and followed her out of the square to a nearby inn. He would make time later to process the truth, that they were all going to die in this world. Right now he had a mission.

# # #  
Keita gathered his guild before the announcement finished. Sachi was still in shock, staring at the sky like it held all the answers.  Keita assigned Tetsuo to help get Sachi to one of the inns. He trusted the rest of the guild to get follow Tetsuo and Sachi. He didn't want to stay in the square until everybody came out of their shock and started to get violent.

While his guild left the square, he saw others instinct told him he should help. A few young girls, who reminded him sickeningly of Sachi, had fallen to the ground and huddled into themselves. Farther away, he saw children so young they should never have been allowed to use a Nervegear.  He could have helped them, but he turned away. He had five other people to take care of. He couldn't afford to take anybody else on, no matter how badly it hurt to turn away.

# # #

Silica had been terrified when Kayaba's avatar came down from the sky. Then it just got worse, as he held up a hand and news feeds appeared showing the deaths of over two hundred players. She'd spent the afternoon exploring. It had been fun and simple. How could two hundred people have died while everything had been so perfect and amazing?

Silica's mother had tried to warn her that she was too young for this kind of game. She'd sworn that she wasn't, and to prove it had saved up the money for the Nervegear herself.   Now she wished she'd listened.

As the flash of mirror after mirror went off around her, Silica had only seconds to feel dread. Now, with a flash of light that encompassed her entire body, she found herself dropping to her knees with the mirror in her hands. She'd picked an avatar that looked older and plainer, but now her own face stared back from the mirror.   
  
Silica  was only thirteen, and terrible at making friends. She'd thought that if she was the only one in her class who had Sword Art Online, her classmates would want to play with her. She'd never get that chance now. Worse, Silica's mother was the most important person in her life, and now Silica wasn't ever going to see her again.  Her hands went limp, and the mirror fell from her grasp to shatter against the brick road. She wrapped her arms around herself in a hug and sobbed. Silica felt so alone, even with ten thousand people around her. Her mind still couldn't process the idea that some of the other game players had already died.[MMe. H1] 

# # #

Lisbeth had been shocked by Kayaba's announcement, but she had been one of the Beta Teasters chosen for her high alchemy and artifact creation scores in other Nervegear games. Lisbeth allowed herself ten minutes to internalize the new information that Kayaba's announcement provided. Even in the real world, she was a tech geek.   
  
She knew that Kayaba wasn't kidding about the Nervegear being able to kill you. The microwave emitter had seemed so innocuous when Lisbeth had researched the schematics that were released to the public. Now she wished she'd looked into it further.  Maybe then she'd know if there was a way to get around Kayaba's plan. Regretting her past naiveté was pointless. She needed to get out of the square, before the crowd got any more dangerous.   
  
She was grateful that she'd registered as a blacksmith as soon as she'd logged back into SoA. As an item maker, she would still have to fight for HP, but she had the advantage of a different means to level up. Which meant she wouldn't be in as desperate straights as some of the other players.

You might not be able to take damage in a town, but a riot would still be terrifying. Lisbeth started backing away from the center of the crowd while keeping an eye out for anyone who noticed her leaving. She was so busy keeping an eye on what was going on in front of her that she backed right into somebody. They ended up tangled together and sprawled across the brick road beneath them.

Once they were untangled, Lisbeth was surprised to see that the other girl was about her own age with red hair that fell down to her waist, except where it was held away from her face by a pair of braids.  Lisbeth considered leaving the other girl there, but she didn't look like she knew what to do with herself. Lisbeth wasn't a hero, but she wasn't heartless.

"I'm Lisbeth, what's your name?"

"I'm Asuna," the girl said.

"Then come on, Asuna. Let's get somewhere safe."  Asuna nodded and reached out to grab her hand. Together they made their way out of the square and into the city.

# # #

One month passed since the game began. During that time two thousand players died. Everything seemed hopeless. Then the news was broadcast throughout the first floor. A team of fighters had beaten the first floor boss.

They were all one level closer to making it home.

 


End file.
